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University-educated preschool teachers who missed out on Labor's promised taxpayer-funded pay rises are pushing ahead with a demand for large pay increases in the Fair Work Commission, with the Independent Education Union seeking salaries of up to $101,767.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said on Thursday it would not block Nine’s takeover despite acknowledging that it would reduce competition.

The ACCC chair, Rod Sims, said the merger would “likely reduce competition” but added that it was not “likely to substantially lessen competition in any market in breach of the Competition and Consumer Act”.

AROUND THE MIDDLEof the last century, the chemical DDT was found to pose a risk to human and animal health. The ultimate response — after a prolonged fight between environmentalists and the chemical industry — was afederal banon all uses of the substance found to be unsafe.

GIVEN his love of Chinese teahouses, Mr Yang, a retired academic from Chengdu, was born in the right place at a terrible time. Within living memory his home town, the capital of Sichuan province, had boasted more than 600 teahouses, or chaguan. Some were famous for storytellers or opera.

Key horticulture figures have echoed concerns about the need for a vibrant Australian beekeeping industry that provide bees to pollinate crops, in the wake of tests from a German lab which found that some honey sold in Australia was deemed adulterated.

Since the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry began in February this year, Australians have learnt a great many things – almost all of them bad – about our banks and financial institutions.

The scene is theNew York Timesnewsroom. The paper’s executive editor, Dean Baquet, is watching the Trump inauguration on television. “Wow,” he murmurs. “What a story. What a fucking story. OK, let’s go.”

As the royal commission prepares for a showdown with the $2.6 trillion superannuation industry on August 6, it has assigned a team to trawl through submissions, meet key players and comb various reports including the Productivity Commission's landmark draft report into super.